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Not sure where to put this so here it is.

Would like to make some 3d animations of my Abloy locks as a cutaway/xray style and was wondering if anybody has tried this and if so, what program do you use.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wtl2hmHZCLw

I have used Google sketchup 3d before so might have to try this soon.

It would be ideal if this can then be saved as a gif.

Well i know that Stian used 3D Studio Max for that animation and i would probably advise you to start there if you need to learn a 3D app anyways. I started modeling 3-4months ago using SolidWorks then found the built in animator and Render engine was not great. Im still trying to find a good route from Solidworks to Modo for animation!!! If i had to do it over again, id probably build the models in Autodesk inventor then export to 3DS Max. Others might have some different ideas… Don't think i posted any of these renders yet on this site….

+1 L0ckcr4ck3r, your EVVA MCS modeling is great, and I agree that Solid Works and Inventor are not the greatest on the animation side. Solid Works has a rendering plug-in that can be enabled and it does pretty good but nowhere near as good as 3DS Max, Lightwave, or even freeware like Blender. For my purposes (I like to model all of my commercial tools so I can recreate them to spec if I they ever break, etc.) Solid Works and Inventor work fine (especially being able to make drawing and assemblies easily,) but if I ever planned on animating or doing complex rendering I would definitely go with an integrated suite like 3DS Max or Blender.